Where Angels Fail
by Niarisu
Summary: Both Ed and Al want to marry Winry, but Winry doesn't want to marry either of them...yet. However, the two brothers are very persistent, and both vie for her attentions. Childhood EdWin fic.


**Ack! Reposted with funny things taken care off. MS word seems to have messed with it a bit, anyways, funny mistakes should be gone now...and this was dedicated to my sister, as it was her birthday.**

"Winry's going to marry me!" Al shouted as he swung his fist at his brother.

"No she's not, she's going to marry me!" Ed ducked and dodged, and darted away, before turning around and catching Al in the stomach. Alphonse sucked in his breath at the impact, but braved it, recovering from the punch quickly. He then angrily jabbed Edward in his face.

"She likes me better than you!"

"Ow! That's not fair!" Edward complained, swiping Al's hand away from his face. "No jabbing! Besides, I'm older, so she likes me better!" He kicked out at Al, but Al moved quickly and knocked his brother down with a fist. The older boy fell with a loud thump and excessive cursing. Al let out a triumphant shout, and promptly sat down on Edward with a grin on his face, beads of sweat covering his forehead from the exertion. He sighed, relaxing, as Edward angrily reminded Alphonse that it was he whom he was sitting upon, and that he did not particularly enjoy being sat on and squished. Al did not pay any attention to him. Instead, he merely wiped his face with a dirt-covered hand, dirty from his fight with Edward.

"See? I win, so Winry's gonna marry me." He declared, before he stuck out his tongue mockingly at his older, but inevitably shorter, brother, who snorted at him, as though in amusement.

Ed stuck out his tongue right back at him. "I still say that she'll marry me," he replied to Alphonse's declaration. With several jerks, he twisted out from under his brother with a victorious shout. As Edward scrambled to get up, Al yelled in surprise as sat down with a loud 'thump'. Ed then ran off into his house and slammed the door with a loud bang. Although the shouts and scuffles of the two boys were now silenced, the quiet left behind was deafingly loud. Upset by the fight, Al ran in the opposite direction of the house and sat by the river.

- - -

"Ed! Al!"

Winry was bored. Winry was very bored. Winry was so very bored, and Winry definitely did not have a sweet demeanour when she's bored. Quite the opposite, actually. She was known to throw things at people when she was bored. And since she was bored, she wanted to play, as all little kids do. And the only other children her age nearby were Ed and Al. Unfortunately, though, said boys were nowhere in sight.

But that was ten minutes ago. Now, Winry was officially annoyed, and though it was a change from being bored, it did make her more violent.

"Honestly, where could they be?" She had been looking for them for those ten minutes, and she hadn't even seen a shadow of them. Maybe they had been fighting again… Usually, if the two boys had a fight, both would disappear for hours, and as to why they did that, Winry did not know. And seeing as she had looked virtually everywhere for them within those ten minutes, she decided that it would be safe to assume that the two really had gotten into a fight again, though over what was beyond her. Sighing, she turned her steps towards the river, the only place she hadn't looked yet.

As she approached the river, she scuffed her shoes on the grass, kicking pebbles as she went. Meanwhile, various ideas were running through her head about what she would do to the brothers when she got her hands on them. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice that she had come to the river bank, and so instead of stepping on firm ground, her foot met thin air instead, and she tumbled down the slope. Luckily for her though, she stopped right before the river, and was saved from a humiliating dunk in the cold current. Clambering to her feet, her logic somehow decided that Ed and Al were somehow at fault for her slip, and it didn't make her any happier. Brushing herself off, she continued her search for the two brothers. Walking along the river, she scanned the stretch in front of her, hoping to see their shadows.

"Al?" Winry's voice drifted over to where Al was sitting. At the same time, he saw a shadow fall beside him. Al looked up, expecting Winry to be standing there, looking down at him, but when he saw golden eyes peering down at him, he jumped up into a fighting stance. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Winry standing there looking baffled.

It was then Winry noticed Al and Edward, and ran towards them with a determined expression on her face, determined, actually, to stop the two brothers from tearing each other to pieces.

"I knew it!" She called at them angrily. "You were fighting again! What is it with you boys and fighting?" When she was near enough to the two brothers, she frowned at them, her hands twitching as though restraining herself from throwing an imaginary wrench at them for being so typically stupid. Then, as abruptly as she became angry, a smile lit up her face. She waved at the two brothers, who looked quite dumbstruck at Winry's sudden mood swing, and called out at them.

"Come on, I want to play!" Winry ran off, leaving behind a surprised Ed and Al who looked at each other, sharing a glance which spoke volumes, and unanimously decided that they would never understand girls. Forgetting their earlier fight, they raced each other to Winry, laughing and shouting at each other

---

"Wiiiinryyy…" Al threw the ball to her as he called her, drawling out the syllables of her name.

"Yes?" Winry asked, hoping that it wouldn't be something that stopped their game. After all, they had only been playing for a short while so far.

"Umm, would you like to marry me?" Al looked hopefully at his friend, while Ed looked on hoping that he would be rejected. Besides, he was older, and thus, he liked Winry more Winry looked very surprised, the question catching her very off guard. It wasn't everyday that your best friend asked you to marry him, right? Finally, she responded, her face scrunching up as though she felt utterly disgusted at the thought.

"Ew, yuck! Why would I want to marry someone anyways?" She grimaced, tossing the ball to Edward. The ball arced into the air, and Edward reached up to catch it, though he nearly missed it because of the growing delight that was building up inside of him. After all, his 'number one rival for Winry's affections' had just been turned down by said person.

"Ha! I told you she wouldn't marry you!" he crowed delightedly to Al, before turning to Winry with a smirk that clearly said he was better than his younger brother, and thus deserved to marry Winry. "You'll marry me though, right Win?" He evidently hadn't quite understood that she didn't want to marry anyone just yet.

"No! I told you already. I'm not marrying either of you!" Winry snorted and crossed her arms over her chest before she turned away defiantly.

"Wait!" The gears in Ed's mind turned quickly, and he ran off, seemingly undaunted. He returned a few moments later with a handful of flowers, daffodils, judging from their yellow petals, and shoved them at Winry, looking very pleased with himself.

"Now you have to marry me because I'm nicer than Al!" he declared. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Al looking on with something akin to jealousy in his eyes. That only made Edward grin harder. But the grin was soon wiped off his face when Al smirked, jerking his head toward Winry. Edward's eyes widened and he gave his attentions back to Winry.

"Nuh-uh, I'm never marrying someone shorter than me!" Winry stuck her tongue out at the already shorter than average boy.

"W-wait! Are you calling me short? Wh-why you…!" Ed spluttered off indignantly. He looked as though he was about to explode! But the thing is, he just couldn't bring himself to hurt Winry, seeing as she's his object of affection. If it had been Al, he thought sulkily, he would have pounded him to bits. He gave Winry an angry look, before stalking off and sitting behinds a tree nearby, curled up like a ball.

Now that Ed had left, Al tried again. After all, his number one rival, in his mind, had been just turned down as well. Didn't that make him better than Edward? Turning his cutest puppy eyes to Winry, he asked charmingly, "Will you pretty please marry me?"

The only answer he got was a face full of dust as Winry stomped off.

---

Despite their failures, the two brothers weren't about to give up yet, although each for his own reasons. Of course, they both wanted Winry to marry them, but now, they also had different reasons as well. Ed hadn't quite forgiven her for calling him short yet, and Al still wanted Winry to marry him, not his brother. Sparing each other a glance, they ran off in opposite directions, with devious plans in their minds.

Winry was annoyed, very annoyed, and for very many reasons. Unfortunately for her, she was about to get one more reason to be annoyed. Walking under a tree, she heard a voice call out, "Hey Winry!" It sounded as though the voice came from above. But that wasn't right. Trees couldn't talk, could they?

Looking up, she caught a glimpse of Edward grinning down at her before a very large pile of leaves came tumbling down, knocking her to the ground.

"Now look who's short," the boy giggled, before quickly climbing down the tree and dashing off, leaving a very, very upset, leaf covered Winry behind. She gnashed her teeth together in frustration as she leapt up from her leafy bed, waving her arms at him. Leaves which had stuck themselves to her flaked off as though she were a tree in autumn.

"That wasn't nice Edward Elric!" she bellowed after him, mentally noting to herself to skin Edward alive the next time they meet. Suddenly, she was surprised by a very noise behind her, and quickly turned around, but relaxed when she realized it was only Al, hands behind his back, and looking very awkward.

"Um, I guess I have to apologize for brother," he said sheepishly, before holding out something that had been behind his back. Awkwardly, he handed a wreath of flowers he had been working on to her.

"But you will marry me, won't you, Winry?" he asked earnestly.

Frankly, Winry was flattered that she was getting so much attention, but did it have to be from the Elric brothers? Not to mention, Al was almost like a brother to her. And Ed was, well, Ed. She supposed that marrying Ed wouldn't be too bad though. But being asked the same question so many times was getting annoying, and she wasn't in the best mood at the moment. Ignoring the flower wreath, she stomped off, tossing a rather loud 'No!' behind her shoulder, and left a very confused Al behind.

- - -

Once Ed had deemed it safe to come out of hiding, he cautiously crept out carrying a ball. Inside, though, he felt rather guilty about dumping leaves on Winry like that. He hoped Winry wasn't too mad. Besides, he was getting bored and wanted to play. Hiding from an angry Winry, though scary, wasn't exactly fun.

Spotting Winry in her pink dress walking down the path, looking around as though she were looking for something, he snuck up behind her, and tossed the ball to her with every intention to get her attention so he could play with her…and hit her on the head. The girl shouted in surprise, and sat down onto the gravelly ground with a loud thump, the innocent ball bouncing away from her. "Oops…" Ed 'Eeped' and quickly darted behind a tree, flattening himself against it, and feverently praying that Winry hadn't noticed him.

Unfortunately for him, Winry wasn't stupid, and she knew exactly who had thrown the ball, and exactly where Ed was. After all, she had great deduction skills. Standing up and grabbing the ball, she stomped over to the tree to find a very sheepish looking Ed cowering there. With an angry growl, she hit him over the head with the ball, hard.

"Ow! I didn't mean to Win!" he shouted as he fell to the ground, clutching his head.

Winry, however, wasn't listening.

"First you dump a pile of leaves on me, and then you hit me on the head? You really are a meanie Ed!" She shouted at him, waving her arms for extra emphasis.

She was about to stomp off again, when Ed grabbed her arm. She gave him a look that clearly said for him to let go of her this moment. But Edward, being Edward, looked up at her and smiled as nicely as he could. Then, he did something that really wasn't like him. He apologized.

"Umm, sorry Winry?"

Winry was taken aback. Ed had never apologized before. Usually, he would have simply sulked, and waited for it to all blow over. She supposed he really didn't mean to have hit her on the head. After all, this was a once in a life time kind of an event. Her frown turned into a smile ever so slowly. Suddenly, she punched Ed lightly on the arm, Ed before running off.

"Tag! You're it!" she giggled. Laughing , Edward scrambled up from his sitting position, and chased after her.

Clearly, though, Ed hadn't gotten the message to stop bothering Winry with his marriage proposals. When he caught up to her, he jumped on her with a shout and knocked her flat. Winry struggled to get up, but Ed sat on her in the same manner as when Al sat on him. Revenge, he supposed, was sweet, even though it was on someone else.

"Please marry me?" he pleaded, well, demanded. "If you don't say yes I won't get off you!" And to think she had thought that marrying Ed wouldn't be so bad…

Twisting, Winry hit Ed hard with a fist, knocking him over and got up. She towered over him, seemingly scarier than before. Edward could have sworn he saw a storm cloud over her head as he turned around to look at her fearfully.

"I'm never marrying someone shorter than me!" she shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at said shorty, before stomping away again.

"I'm not short!" he screamed at her retreating figure angrily, before getting up, brushing the dirt off his hands and hair, and stomping off.

Al, who had been watching the entire episode behind a tree, ran off after his brother. He easily caught up to him, seeing as he was taller, and had longer strides. Walking along side of Edward, he tried to console him. "Don't be so angry, nii-san. I'm certain she didn't mean it!"

But Edward simply ignored Al, and walked on. The younger Elric sighed, exasperated, before trailing his brother in silence. Ed however, quickly shook Al off before running towards the house and slamming the door.

---

"Al, sweetie, did you and Ed fight again?" Al found his mother in front of their house, a basket of laundry in her arms. Trisha Elric was a pretty woman, her brown hair tied up in a loose pony tail. Her apron was stained with dirt, probably from gardening. She looked behind her into the house curiously, before leaning down so she would be at eye-level with Alphonse. "I saw him run into the study and close the door, he looked rather upset," she added with a questioning look.

Al shook his head quickly. "I think it's because Winry said she wouldn't marry him and she called him short." Alphonse never lied. He simply told half-truths. But he didn't exactly know how to keep a straight face.

He decided that he probably had looked rather worried, as his mother patted him on the back with a hand.

"You shouldn't worry too much about it," she told Alphonse. "He'll be fine. Now you go play, and have fun, okay, sweetie?" Alphonse nodded, and watched as his mother smiled at him, before walking off to hang up the laundry. It occurred to him that his mother probably thought that he was worried about Edward. Well, he was. After all, he was a very caring brother.

However, Al didn't 'go play, and have fun.' Instead, as soon as his mother was preoccupied, he dashed into the house, and headed towards the study.

"Nii-san! Nii-san! Let me in!" Al pounded on the door, which Ed had either locked, or blockaded with many, many books, or perhaps furniture. He had tried to open it, but came up with those two theories, as the door hadn't budged.

"Go away!" Ed's voice sounded muffled through the door. "I'm busy!"

"Let. Me. IN!" Al screamed as he started kicking the door. He was getting rather upset as well. He didn't like it when his brother locked himself away. It felt wrong.

"No! Go away! I'm concentrating!" Ed was adamant in his decision to keep Al locked out. From inside the room, came several loud crashes, followed by what would have been swearing if Ed had known any, but instead, were simply loud screams of frustration.

"Fine then! I'm leaving!" Al stuck his tongue out at the door, even though Ed couldn't see, and stormed off.

Al stomped past his mother, who gave him a questioning look, which he ignored, towards his favourite tree that was near the Rockbell house, and found Winry already sitting underneath it. Al hesitated, before he plopped down next to her. After all, Winry didn't look all that happy at the moment either, and Al knew that Winry wasn't very nice when she wasn't happy But Al still had the idea that if he was really, really, really nice to Winry, she would marry him eventually. After all, there was no harm in trying and persevering, correct?

"What's wrong Win?" he asked.

"Nothing," she pouted, and turned away from him. But Al wasn't discouraged.

"Are you sad?"

"No." Winry just pulled her knees up to her chest and stared ahead.

"Was Ed mean again? He was mean to me…" Al probed further.

"I haven't seen him since he ran off! And no one reme—" Winry was cut off by her grandmother's voice. Both children looked up.

"Winry, is Al there? Why don't you two come in?" Pinako stood at the doorway, a spatula in her hand. "I just finished baking some cookies if you would like some."

"Of course, Auntie Pinako! Come on Winry!" Al grabbed Winry's hand and pulled her towards her house, Winry yelping all the way.

Pinako turned back into the house to bring the cookies out and search for some milk as Al and Winry bowled into the room, both giggling happily. After all, Granny Pinako's cookies were the very best.

Al, still trying to be super-nice, pulled out a chair for Winry to sit in. "See, aren't I nice Win?"

"Ehehe, thank you Al," Winry giggled, sitting down daintily.

Al rushed off to get some plates from Pinako ("Careful, boy!") and placed one in front of Winry, and one in front of himself. He grabbed a few cookies and placed them on Winry's plate. The girl looked delighted as she grabbed a cookie, opening her mouth to thank Al, when she was interrupted by Al himself.

"Will you marry me now?" he asked hopefully.

Winry hmphed and pouted. "No. I already said I wouldn't," she said as she took a bite out of one of the cookies, a look of delight spreading over her face. "Yummy!"

Al sighed and ate his cookies in silence.

---

"Ed? Are you in there?" Trisha gently knocked at the study door. It was still locked from the inside.

A muffled response that sounded something like "maybe" was heard. Trisha sighed and smiled; he really was taking after his father quite a bit. He also used to lock himself in said study room for hours on end. "Well, the Rockbells have invited us for dinner, so you might want to get ready. Winry said that there's going to be cheese."

Inside, Ed sat bolt up right. "Cheese? Great!" That was when he knocked over a tall stack of books and they came tumbling down on top of him. "Ow!" he cried , clutching his head in pain. Books hurt, especially since they were hard-cover.

"Ed, are you alright?" Trisha sounded worried about the sounds of crashing and large sounds inside, but was reassured by Ed. Looking dubiously at the door, she shook her head, before turning away.

"We'll be waiting for you then," she said. She was about to walk off when she heard the door unlock, and a very excited-looking Edward dash out.

- - -

Since Al was already at the Rockbells with Winry, Ed and his mother walked to their house by themselves. Ed was looking extremely pleased with himself. He hummed as he skipped down ahead of his mother, towards a waiting Winry and inevitably, of course, dinner.

"Hi Win!" he called out cheerfully, waving towards his friend. There was that enigmatic smile on his face that made Winry extremely uncomfortable, as that smile usually hinted at something unexpected. Plus, she still hadn't forgiven him for bothering her with those marriage questions. Edward skidded to a stop beside her, deftly ignoring the death looks he was receiving from her.

"Want to see something?" he asked.

Winry, curious as to what he wanted to show her, agreed. Getting on his knees and grabbing a nearby stick, Ed carefully drew a transmutation circle on the ground. Scrunching his face up in concentration, he placed his hands on the circle, as the circle glowed gold. Blue alchemic light danced around the circle, and into the air, causing Winry to gasp in anticipation as well as awe. The blue light seemed to be everywhere at once, like lightning, though it never struck the middle of the circle. Perhaps lightning never strikes twice. Winry watched in fascination as the dirt inside began twisting into strange shapes, pulling and twisting as though something alive was about to leapt forward from the dirt. Al, drawn by the transmutation light, came out to watch too. As abruptly as it began, the light died down, and Ed removed the object from the middle of the circle and handed it to the delighted girl. "Happy birthday, Win!"

Winry's face was a perfect picture of joy. "You remembered it was my birthday!" she crowed in delight. Not only had she thought that both Ed and Al had forgotten her birthday but had evidently been remembered, she was also overjoyed with her birthday present; a wrench. The metal thing glittered as Winry grasped it, her eyes sparkling. Al's mouth opened in an O of surprise as he realized that he had forgotten. Oops…

Ed smiled his impish smile. "Of course I did! Did you think I forgot? Now read it!" Winry, looked down at the handle of the wrench curiously, and saw, indeed, words carved into the side.

With some difficulty, Winry read aloud the words that were raised on both sides of the metal tool. "Will you marry me?" she read. Looking up, Winry smiled her sweetest achievable smile, her eyes still sparkling in that crazed manner from holding the wrench. "Hmm…I guess so, since you did remember my birthday, but…" Winry paused for a moment, and if possible, her smile got wider, "not unless you get taller!" she declared.

"I'M NOT SHORT!" Ed shouted, or rather, tried to. He had managed to get out the first two words before the newly bestowed wrench came flying—and hit him on the head. Sitting up and rubbing his head, he glowered at the girl, curses forming in his head. Winry, still smiling, swooped over and hugged Ed dramatically, while kissing him on the cheek before backing off.

Ed was stunned. Even though he wanted her to marry him, he was, inevitably, still a guy, and guys did not take to shows of affections lightly. What did they expect anyways? Blushing furiously, he stared at her before sticking out his tongue. "Love you too, Win," he mumbled.

Laughing, the adults shepherded the children inside. One sheepish, one pleased, and one with an extremely large bump on his head.


End file.
